LONDON (Bloomberg) — HSBC Holdings Plc is moving chief executive officer Michael Geoghegan to Hong Kong from London as Europe's biggest bank increases its focus on emerging markets.

HSBC will still be domiciled in the UK and has no plans to move, the bank said on Friday in a statement. Chairman Stephen Green, chief financial officer Douglas Flint and investment banking chief Stuart Gulliver will remain based in London.

"There's a shift of gravity going from West to East," Green said on a conference call with journalists. "Nothing about the economic crisis changes that. If anything, it's being accelerated."

HSBC plans to expand in China, India and Brazil, among the world's fastest growing economies over the past decade, to take advantage of increasing demand for banking services. Unlike UK rivals Lloyds Banking Group Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, HSBC avoided a government bailout, even after posting $67 billion of provisions for bad loans in the past three-and-a-half years.

Geoghegan, 55, will take over responsibility for the "evolution of group strategy" from Green, the chairman said.

Geoghegan, who became CEO in May 2006, has spent about 29 of his 36 years with HSBC outside the UK. He started the bank's Brazilian unit in 1997 and became head of South American operations in 2000. He has worked in Asia for eight years and the Middle East for seven.

"We welcome the move, it's been something we've been asking them to do for a long time," said Glen Suarez, chief investment officer at Knight Vinke Asset Management LLC, which owns HSBC shares. Knight Vinke has campaigned to force the bank to review its strategy and place greater emphasis on Asia.

Founded in Hong Kong and Shanghai 144 years ago, HSBC has hired advisers for a stock sale in Shanghai next year, people familiar with the matter said last month. More than 30 percent of the bank's investors are in Hong Kong.

The bank got about 26 percent of net revenue from Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific region last year, according to HSBC's financial reports. HSBC's business is weighted toward Hong Kong, which accounted for 15.3 percent of the group's assets, while the rest of Asia accounted for 9.9 percent. HSBC must increase investments in Asia and open more branches in the region if the moves are to mean anything, said Arturo de Frias, a banking analyst at Evolution Securities Ltd. in London.

"The proof of the pudding is being able to grow the businesses and make sure the weighting of emerging market assets becomes the majority of the group, which is not the case now," said de Frias, who cut his recommendation on the bank's stock to "sell" on September 8. Hong Kong and Singapore closed the gap on London and New York in a ranking of competitiveness among the world's financial centres, according to a study released this week.

The Global Financial Centers Index published by the Z/Yen Group indicated London and New York retained first and second place, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore and Shenzhen, China.

The bank will continue to be resident in the UK for tax purposes and the Financial Services Authority will continue to be main regulator for HSBC.